Ideology
The organization originated in the 1970s from the radical left and drew its leaders, members from other existing leftist groups, mainly Dev-Genç. The organization initially presented itself as part of the worldwide communist revolution. The organization's aims and objectives have evolved over time towards the goal of national autonomy, and what Ocalan dubs "Democratic Confederalism".
During 1980s the movement included and cooperated with other ethnic groups, including ethnic Turks, who were following the radical left. The organization initially aimed to establish a fully independent Kurdistan covering land in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
In 1999, following the capture of Ocalan, the organization announced a "peace initiative," and spoke more often about cultural or linguistic rights. However, the group renounced its self-imposed cease-fire in 2004. Besides the activities directed towards Turkey, on 17 July 2005, one of the chief executives Hasan Özen was murdered in Austria. Hasan Özen wanted to leave the organization, and the PKK is widely thought to be responsible. In Diyarbakir, on 6 July 2005, Hikmet Fidan, the former founder of the legal branch the People’s Democratic Party (HADEP), was also murdered. Hikmet Fidan had tried to form an alternative, non-violent Kurdish political party called the Patriotic Democratic Party (PWD) with Osman Ocalan, the brother of Abullah Ocalan. At least 3 other persons involved with the PWD were also killed. The PKK is widely thought to be responsible for these killings also.
Read more about this topic: Pkk
Famous quotes containing the word ideology:
“The ideology of this America wants to establish reassurance through Imitation. But profit defeats ideology, because the consumers want to be thrilled not only by the guarantee of the Good but also by the shudder of the Bad.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“Xenophobia looks like becoming the mass ideology of the 20th-century fin-de-siècle. What holds humanity together today is the denial of what the human race has in common.”
—Eric J. Hobsbawm (b. 1917)
“Liberation is an evershifting horizon, a total ideology that can never fulfill its promises.... It has the therapeutic quality of providing emotionally charged rituals of solidarity in hatred—it is the amphetamine of its believers.”
—Arianna Stassinopoulos (b. 1950)